Welcome to this 31 day series where we will spend 31 days covering our homes in PRAYER!! We are also reading Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love
Read more details about this series and the book club here.
Want to Know More about Praying the Scriptures?
Praying God’s Word has transformed my prayer life. I pray these resources bless your heart and draw you near to the heart of God also.
10 Benefits of Praying the Scriptures
Scriptures for Desperate Mamas, for the Brokenhearted and MORE
Printable Calendar of Verses
Each month at His Mercy is New I share a new topic that we will be praying on! You can use these months and topics ANY month, do not feel obligated to pray them in a certain month. Go to this page to see all my printables for praying God’s Word.
One Year of Praying God’s Word: all 12 months of verses to pray in one PDF file FREE for subscribers! Go here to read about this new resource.
Click on the PDF link OR the graphic to print your free schedule of verses for October!
31 Verses to Pray for Our Homes PDF
Verses to Pray for Our Homes
Even in the Old Testament we see a picture of hospitality!
Leviticus 19:33-34
“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself,for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Prayer:
Lord, help us to love others as Jesus loves us. We were all strangers and foreigners somewhere at some point in our lives. Remind us of the fears that go along with being a foreigner in a strange land. Help us open our homes and our hearts to those that God brings our way.
Radical Hospitality Book Discussion
I would LOVE to hear from you in the comments! How are you liking the book? What struck you the most??
Today I want to discuss the INTRODUCTION!! I had so many things highlighted just in the intro to this book! Tell me what you loved most from this section of the book!
Here are some of the things that stuck out to me:
“If we take seriously the call to radical hospitality, we will discover the true meaning of ministry.” Intro to Radical Hospitality, p. ix
“…in the process we are learning to welcome and care for those that are unlike us, we are on the gospel road…” Intro to Radical Hospitality, p. ix {Is this hard or easy for you? Do you feel like you already do this well? Do you love and have relationships with those that are DIFFERENT from you and your family??}
“As a church, we have become accustomed to viewing our membership in terms of what others can give the local congregation.We actively seek out productive, contributing members of our community. But radical hospitality calls us to search for the lost ones, those who have nothing to give us, but who, instead, need something from us.” Intro to Radical Hospitality, p. xi
This last quote was a biggie for me. Doesn’t it sometimes feel like they always need more workers, more volunteers, more sunday school teachers, more youth workers at church? I struggle with a lot of guilt from time to time that I have so much going on in my home (homeschooling, raising a family and teaching piano lessons) that I often can’t do as much as church as I would like.
But let’s remind ourselves WHY we go to church and WHO we should be bringing to church and WHAT the church is!! Would love to discuss this in the comments. I want my church (and my home) to be WELCOMING…even to those who are in desperate need of love and care and may not be able to do a single thing in return for me!!
31 Prayers for Our Homes
Each day we will pray 1 verse for our homes and discuss a portion of the book Radical Hospitality. Even if you’re late to the book discussion, I would still love for you to chime in!
Day 1 – Leviticus 19:33-34 (you are here!)
I, too, am very excited about reading the book Radical Hospitality and praying scripture over my home for the month of October! I have only read the intro in the book and highlighted A LOT! In addition to those mentioned by Candace ( highlighted each one of those also!), another statement that spoke to me is “It isn’t about results, it’s about changing the universe by becoming available to one person in one sliver of time.” (Intro, p. xviii) I believe, if we’re honest, that we focus on results to make ourselves feel good. As is stated in the Intro, we need to focus on others and not the personal benefit we might receive.
Ooooooh, my first book discussion comment! THANK YOU for chiming in so I’m not discussing the book all by myself. 🙂
I love that quote too!! Wasn’t the introduction so rich?
Yes, we focus so much on results. Gosh it’s hard to have a total paradigm shift and just LOVE freely and without strings attached.
Joining you from Write 31 Days! This is my first 31 days of writing series – I’m so looking forward to this adventure.
I won’t be reading the book but I am definitely following along and LOVE this topic so much. I shared your series on my blog this morning and I hope people will follow along too. Good luck and thanks for sharing <3
I’m reading the intro right now and posting some of my thoughts.
“To him hospitality was not about social graces but about mutual reverence. Father Noel knew that spirituality is about relationships. Every man, woman, and child bears to us the presence of God.” p xviii
My mother in law is currently living with us. Our relationship has been difficult to say the least. It’s been hard for me to be patient and loving with her while she’s here. If I let all this past “stuff” get in the way, how am I honoring God? How am I seeing His work in her? Yes, she’s flawed, as am I, but God still loves her. She left today to go to some training for her new job. While I was relieved to get my house back, I also found I was a little sad to see her go. I see how in our relationships, especially the difficult ones, that God not only works in others, but in ourselves as well.
I also felt touched by this on page xxxvi, “In the monastic image of the world, we are all guests, we are all travelers, we are all a little lost, and we are all looking for a place to rest for a while.” I frequently feel a little lost and in need of a place to rest.
I just read what you wrote about the guilt of not serving “enough.” I’m having some pregnancy complications that have forced me to pull back on a lot of things. I felt that way, as my volunteer team always needs more people. But I found something I could do from home, while sitting. I did the scheduling! We can’t do everything, we are just one part in the body of Christ.
Joining you from 31 days. love your prayers.